Trash bin washing apparatus



BQLMA Dec. i3, lQ J. DIAMOND TRASH BIN WASHING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 19, 1965 CEN-mimics INVENTOR. JACK DIAMOND WATER RESERVOlR ATTORNEYS eC. '113, w66

J. DIAMOND TRASH BIN WASHING APPARATUS Filed March 19. 1965 HYDRAULIC CONTROL HYDRAULIC CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNE YS United States Patent O 31,291,144 TRASH BIN WASHING APPARATUS Jack Diamond, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Container Cleaners, Inc., a corporation of California vFiled Mar. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 441,272 V8 Claims. (Cl. 134-104) This invention relates to washing equipment and more particularly to a novel washing apparatus particularly useful for cleaning `relatively large trash bins as are used outside of super markets, restaurants, and the like.

.Trash bins of the type under considerati-on are of the order of four feet wide, six feet long and about four or tive feet-deep. The bins are provided with channels on their under surface and/or sides for receiving forked structures on conventional vehicles to facilitate m-oving the bins. However, there has not been available a convenient means for washing the bins and getting rid of remnants of trash and garbage in the bins after they have been dumped. Usually, the bins `are simply collected and transported to a central washing area for cleaning and then returned. This operation is time consuming, laborious, and expensive.

With the foregoing in mind it is accordingly a pri- `mary object of this invention to provide a novel apparatus for washing bins of the large commercial-type in which the above problems are overcome.

More particularly it is an object to provide a portable type trash bin washing apparatus in the form of a truck that may be driven directly to the side of the bins :and the washing operat-ion carried out completely and automatically at the site by equipment carried on the truck.

Another important object is to provide a trash bin washing apparatus in which the washing water is recirculated and filtered and any remnants `of trash and garbage collected and stored in a novel manner all to the end that a given supply of water may be reused to enable wash-ing of several bins without having to replenish the water supply on the truck and to the further end that the .ground area at the site is not contaminated with washing water and trash remnants.

.More particular objects of this invention are to provide a novel trash bin washing apparatus designed to clean and sanitize bins of relatively large size in such a manner that washing action on both the exterior and interior of the bin can be carried out substantially simultaneously with a resultant savings in the bin washing time; to Iprovide a novel means for eiecting the iiltering of the recirculating water and to effect the collecting of refuse remaining in the bin and storing it until such time as the same can be disposed of at a convenient dump; and to enable the entire bin washing operation to be carried out by a single person and in a minimum of time so that excessive expenses resulting from time and labor are avoided.

Brieiiy, these and many other objects and advantages of this invention are attained by providing a truck having a front cab and truck bed. First and second side walls extend upwardly from the truck bed to deiine an open top washing chamber. Also associated with the truck are lifting means in the form of a pair of arms terminating in afork structure designed to cooperate with the conventional fork receiving channels on the bottom or sides of the trash bin. These arms are thus adapted to engage and lift the trash bin into a position at least partially extending between the side walls defining the washing chamber. In this respect, the arms include tilting means at their far ends so that the trash bin may be oriented with its open top portion facing generally towards the rear of the truck cab.

The inside interior portions of the iirst and second walls defining the washing chamber are provided with ICC nozzles for directing water ont-o the exterior of the bin. Also there is provided a swivelly mounted nozzle structure projecting from the rear cab into the washing area and manually operable fordirecting Water into the interior portions of the bin.

On the oor of the washing area there is provided a screen covering and iilter arrangement to collect refuse and pass water respectively to -a suitable water reservoir wherein water is heated and thence recirculated back to the nozzles. Any remaining refuse caught by the screen, in turn, is arranged to be dumped into a trash and garbage receptacle adjacent to the screen, this latter receptacle being tiltable at a subsequent time to dispose of such refuse.

The various components making up the major portions of the apparatus are operated hydraulically and may -thus be controlled by a single individual with a resultant savings in time and labor.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by now referring to a preferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the trunk constituting the bin washing apparatus of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section of the truck of FIGURE l showing the bin in a raised position preparatory to being washed, the cross-section of the truck portion being taken generally in the direction of the arrows 2--2 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic perspective view, partially exploded, illustrating a preferred iilter means constituting part of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a highly schematic diagram useful in explaining the hydraulic means for operating various components illustrated in FIGURES l and 2; and,

FIGURE 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating further hydraulic means.

Referring to FIGURE l, the trash bin washing apparatus includes a truck 10 having a front cab 11 and :a truck bed 12. As shown, rst and second side walls 13 and 14 extend upwardly from the truck bed to define an open top washing chamber 15 between the side walls.

As shown in FIGURE l, the rear portions of the side walls have upper edges 16 and i7. By this design, a lifting means shown as including a pair fof arms 18 and 19 may may swing in an upward arcuate direction. These arms terminate in tilting means in the form of bell crank members 20 and 21 rigidly connected to a cross bar 22 from which fork tines 23 and 24 extend. These fork tines 23 and 24 are arranged to be received in the lower channels of a trash bin such as illustrate-d at 25.

As indicated schematically in FIGURE l by the dashed lines, the arms 18 and 19 swing about a transverse axis 26 while the tilting means in the form of the bell crank members Ztl and 21 and bar 22 pivot about a transverse axis 27 passing through the far ends of the arms.

With the foregoing arrangement, the bin 25 may be engaged and swung upwardly and thence tilted so that its open upper end faces generally in the direction of the rear of the cab Il as illustrated in FIGURE 2. In this position the bin itself is disposed at least partially between the side walls I3 and 14.

As sho-wn in FIGURE 2, each side wall, such as the side wall 13, includes a plurality of nozzles 28 on its interior surface positioned to direct water onto the exterior of the bin. These nozzles constitute a rst set of nozzles forming part of a nozzle means. The nozzle means includes a second nozzle 29 arranged on an hydraulically operated telescoping boom structure 30 swivelly mounted as at 31 in the cab 11. This second nozzle is arranged to be manually swung up and down and side to side and to be hydraulically telescoped outwardly and -retracted inwardly by suitable hydraulic controls on the swivel 31 for operation `by an operator in the ca-b to direct water to the interior of the bin 25.

The lower fioor portion of the washing chamber 15 includes an upper screen 32 positioned over a filter means designated generally by the arrow 33. Also included is a trash and garbage receptacle 34 preferably disposed adjacent to the filtering means and provided with a cover 35 substantially coplanar with the screen 32. The receptacle 34 also includes a tail gate 36.

The screen 32 is pivoted for swinging movement about an axis 37 so that it may be brought up to a tilting position. Also, the cover 35 is pivoted for swinging movement about an axis 38 so that when it is raised to a tilted position the interior of the receptable 34 will be in a position to receive any refuse remaining on the top of the screen 32, water from the nozzle means serving to wash such refuse into the receptacle 34.

The tail gate 36 is pivoted at 39 so that it may be swung open when sufficient refuse has collected in the receptacle 34 to necessitate dumping. Towards this latter end, the entire receptacle 34 may be mounted for rotation about a pivot axis 40 so that it may be raised and dumped in the manner of a conventional dump truck.

Referring now to the enlarged exploded view of FIG- URE 3, details of the filter 33 are shown. Thus, water passing through the upper screen 32 initially strikes a first inclined ramp 41 and thence falls to a second ramp 42 inclined in an opposite direction. This second ramp, as shown, includes a plurality of filters 43, 44, and 45 in the form of screens having successively smaller mesh sizes so as to collect solid particles from water flowing through the screen.

Water from the lower end of the second ramp 42 passes into a water reservoir 46. This reservoir includes a circuitous heating pipe 47 through which hot gases are caused to pass by means of an entrance 48 and an exit 49 both connected to a hot gas generator 50. By this arrangement, water received in the water reservoir is continuously heated to a fairly high temperature.

Water from the reservoir is recirculated to the nozzles by means of a pump 51 having its output connected to a centrifuge 52 for removing any remaining solid particles in the water and a pump 53 supplying Water to the nozzles under fairly high pressure. The same water may thus be used a number of times so that a large amount of -water need not be carried by the truck.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, there is shown a hydraulic cylinder and piston arrangement 54 for actuating a bell crank type .lever 55 secured to an actuating member 56. The ends of the member 56 are secured to the first and second arms `18 and 19 'described in conjunction with FIGURE 1 for raising the bin. Hydraulic fiuid vfor operating the cylinder 54 is provided through lines designated schematically by the dashed line 57 from a hydraulic control center designated generally by the box 58.

The tilting means in the form of the bell cranks 20 and 21 in turn are Iarranged to be actuated by further `hydraulic cylinder and piston arrangements shown at 59 and 60. These latter cylinders are operated simultaneously from a common hydraulic line 61 connected to the hydraulic control 58.

It will be clear from FIGURE 4 that the fork tines 23 and 24 and thus the bin 25 secured thereto may be tilted by actuation of the cylinders 59 and 60 while the entire structure may be swung upwardly and forwardly in an arcuate path by operation of the cylinder 54. Reversing movements of the bell crank members 20 and 21 as well as the arms 18 and 19 are effected by simply reversing the hydraulic fiow to the various cylinders.

Referring now to FIGURE 5, there are shown additional hydraulic cylinders 62 and 63 for tilting the screen 32 together with mechanical interlocking arms 64 and 65 for simultaneously liftingy the cover 35.v The cylinders 62 and 63 are hydraulically connected together to a common control line designated -schematically at 66 passing to the hydraulic control 58. The trash receptacle 34 itself is caused to tilt about its dumping axis 40 `by a hydraulic cylinder 67 independently connected to the hydraulic control through hydraulic lines 68. The tail gate is manually opened or closed at those few times when it is necessary to dump the trash collected in the receptacle 34.

With the foregoing description of the various components in mind, the overall operation of the trash bin washing apparatus of this invention will now be described.

Referring again to FIGURES 1 and 2, the truck operator will drive to the site of the trash bin to be cleaned. The truck may then be lbacked into position so that the fork members 23 and 24 will be received within the channels normally provided on the underside of the bin. In those instances in which the bins are provided with side channels, similar fork structures could be provided on the tilting bar 22 connecting the bell cranks 20 and 21 for reception in the side channels.

After the bin 25 has been engaged, the operator will actuate the hydraulic cylinders 54, 59 and 60 as shown in FIGURE 4 and as required to properly position the bin substantially as illustrated in FIGURE 2.

The bin may be held in a given position and the wall nozzles 28 then turned on to direct a spray of hot water under high pressure against the exterior sides of the bin. Simultaneously, the operator may swivel the second nozzle 29 on the end of the telescopic structure 30 and operate the hydraulic controls to telescope the nozzle in and out as required to effect a thorough cleaning of the interior of the bin 25.

The water used for cleaning purposes may, of course, include a suitable detergent or other chemical to facilitate its cleaning and sanitizing action. Further, the water is heated to a relatively high temperature such as 190 F. to insure killing of bacteria and the like.

As water runs from the interior of the bin and down the sides of the bin during the washing action, it will fall through the upper screen 32 and any remaining refuse on the exterior or interior of the bin will be captured by the surface of the screen. The water itself will then tiow through the filtering means described in conjunction with FIGURE 3 so that when it reaches the reservoir 46, the major larger particles contaminating the water will have been removed. This water will then be heated by t-he heating coils 47 and pass through the pump 51 as described. Final filtering action is effected by the certrifuge 52. This centrifuge reduces particles to less than microns in size so that the water may be pumped by the high pressure pump 53 to the nozzles yto expel the same under a pressure of up to 1000 p.s.i.

Depending upon the quantity of remaining refuse in the bin, and its rate of collection on the screen 32, the operator can periodically tilt the screen 32 and simultaneously lift the cover 35 by operating the cylinders 62 and 63 described in FIGURE 5. During this thansferring operation of the refuse from the upper surface of the screen 32 to the receptacle 34, water issuing from the nozzles 28 will serve to facilitate the transfer by washing the refuse down the screen into the receptacle 34. In conjunction with the foregoing, the operator may be provided with yet a further small hand operated nozzle structure which he may direct on the screen to wash the refuse into the receptacle 34.

After the bin 25 has been thoroughly washed, the nozzle 29 is retracted and the bin structure then tilted and swung back down to the position illustrated in FIGURE l.

After several bins have been washed such that the refuse collected in the receptacle 34 substantially fills this receptacle, the truck may be driven to a suitable dump and this trash disposed of by tilting the entire receptacle about the axis 40 in the manner of a dump truck.

From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention has provided a novel bin washing apparatus which not only greatly facilitates the washing and sanitizing of large commercial type trash bins but enables the operation to be carried out considerably more rapidly than has been possible heretofore, and with considerably less labor land time and thus expense involved.

While only one particular embodiment of the invention has been set forth and described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that many changes may be effected without departing from the true scope and spirit of the invention. The trash bin washing apparatus is therefore not to be thought of as limitedto the specific embodiment set forth merely for illustrative purposes.

What is claimed is:

l. A trash bin washing apparatus comprising, in combination: a truck including first and second side walls extending upwardly to define an open top washing chamber; lifting means coupled to said truck for engaging and lifting a bin into a position adjacent to the upper portions of said side walls with the open end of said bin facing generally in a downwandly sloping direction; nozzle means carried on said truck for directing water into the interior of said bin; a water reservoir carried on said truck; pump means for supplying water from said reservoir to said nozzle means under high pressure; and a filtering means for receiving and filtering water from said bin while the same is being washed -for recirculation to said reservoir.

2. A trash bin washing apparatus comprising, in cornbination: a truck having a front cab and rearwardly extending bed; first and second side walls extending upwardly from -said bed to define an open top washing chamber; lifting means coupled to said truck bed for engaging and lifting a bin into a position at least partially extending between the upper portions of said side walls with the open end of said bin facing generally in a downward sloping direction; nozzle means including first nozzles along the interior of said -side walls for directing water onto the exterior of said bin and a second nozzle for directing water to the interior of said bin; and means in said truck for supplying water to said nozzle means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, including swivel means for mounting said second nozzle whereby said second nozzle may be manually directed.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which said lifting means includes a pair of arms pivoted for swinging movement about an axis transverse to said truck bed, the ends of said arms including bin tilting means so that said bin is positioned in said washing chamber by upward and lforward arcuate swinging of said arms and tilting movements of said tilting means.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which said means for supplying water includes a water reservoir disposed in the lower portion of said truck bed; an upper screen positioned above said reservoir between said walls for receiving water and trash from said bin while the same is being washed by said nozzle means; filter means between said reservoir and screen for ltering out solid matter from water passing through said screen to said reservoir; heating means in said reservoir for heating water received therein; and pump means connected between said reservoir and nozzle means for recirculating water to said nozzle means and forcing water from said nozzle means under high pressure.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, including a trash and garbage receptacle positioned adjacent to said screen; cover means for said receptacle normally in coplanar relationship with said screen; means for lifting said cover means and tilting said screen substantially simultaneously to transfer refuse collected on said screen to said receptacle; and means for tilting said receptacle to dump said refuse.

7. An apparatus laccording to claim 5, in which said filter means includes: a first inclined ramp beneath said upper screen for receiving water passing through said screen; a second ramp beneath said first ramp, said second ramp being inclined in an opposite direction and including a plurality of transverse filter screens on its surface of progressively smaller mesh from its upper edge towards its lower edge, said reservoir lbeing disposed beneath said second ramp to receive water therefrom after passing through said filter screens.

8. An apparatus according to 4claim 6, including a central hydraulic control means; and hydraulic cylinder and piston means for operating said lifting means, upper screen, receptacle cover, and receptacle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,207,166 9/ 1965 Wintzer 134-115 3,212,511 10/1965 Cuillier 134-152 X FOREIGN PATENTS 75,712 4/ 1953 Denmark.

971,030 11/1958 Germany.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. R. L. BLEUTGE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TRASH BIN WASHING APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A TRUCK INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND SIDE WALLS EXTENDING UPWARDLY TO DEFINE AN OPEN TOP WASHING CHAMBER; LIFTING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID TRUCK FOR ENGAGING AND LIFTING A BIN INTO A POSITION ADJACENT TO THE UPPER PORTIONS OF SAID SIDE WALLS WITH THE OPEN END OF SAID BIN FACING GENERALLY IN A DOWNWARDLY SLOPING DIRECTION; NOZZLE MEANS CARRIED ON SAID TRUCK FOR DIRECTING WATER INTO THE INTERIOR OF SAID BIN; A WATER RESERVOIR CARRIED ON SAID TRUCK; PUMP MEANS FOR SUPPLYING WATER FROM SAID RESERVOIR TO SAID NOZZLE MEANS UNDER HIGH PRESSURE; AND A FILTERING MEANS FOR RECEIVING AND FILTERING WATER FROM SAID BIN WHILE THE SAME IS BEING WASHED FOR RECIRCULATION TO SAID RESERVOIR. 